Apparatus and method to handle power supply failures for a peripheral device

Abstract

One embodiment of the invention is directed to a data processing system that includes an electrical detection circuit to determine whether the electrical power is going from “on” to “off,” or changing from “off” to “on;” a peripheral device, including a processor to calculate the amount of electrical energy required for the peripheral device to perform a task; a task queue for the peripheral device that can be read to find a task if the electrical power is going from “on” to “off;” and a non-volatile memory, including a task queue to store data describing the task if insufficient electrical energy remains available to the peripheral device to complete the task.

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. A data processing system that handles power failures when receiving electrical power with an “on” state and an “off” state from a power supply, comprising: 
       an electrical detection circuit for monitoring said power supply to determine whether said electrical power is changing from said “on” state to said “off” state, or changing from said “off” state to said “on” state;  
       peripheral device, including a processor to calculate the amount of electrical energy required for said peripheral device to perform a task;  
       a first task queue for said peripheral device that can be read to find at least one task for said peripheral device if said electrical power is changing from said “on” state to said “off” state;  
       a non-volatile memory, including a second task queue for said peripheral device that can store data describing said task if insufficient electrical energy remains available to said peripheral device to complete said at least one task; and  
       an uninterruptible power supply located inside said peripheral device.  
     
     
       2. A data processing system, comprising: 
       an uninterruptible power supply;  
       a non-volatile memory;  
       a peripheral device connected to a circuit to detect a change in electrical power supplied to said uninterruptible power supply;  
       a task queue in said non-volatile memo that contains one or more tasks for said peripheral device;  
       a processor to calculate the amount of energy required by said peripheral device to perform a scheduled task queue in said non-volatile memory; and  
       wherein said circuit to detect a change in electrical power supplied to said uninterruptible power supply and said non-volatile memory are inside said peripheral device.